News Releases
David Gallo Selected for Explorers Club Lowell Thomas Award
The Explorers Club has chosen David Gallo, Director of Special Projects at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), as one of the recipients of this year’s Lowell Thomas Award. He is among six recipients who will be honored for their “imagination in exploration” at a dinner on October 11, 2014, at the Bowers Museum in Southern California.
Read MoreNew Collaborative Effort to Gauge National Marine Biodiversity
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) researchers are part of a collaborative effort to understand and monitor changes in marine biodiversity within U.S. coastal waters. Marine biodiversity is a key indicator of ocean health and critical to sustaining natural resources such as fisheries.
Read MoreAlvin 50th Celebration Highlights Essential Research
The human-occupied sub Alvin was the “guest of honor” this week at House and Senate staff briefings and a reception at the U.S. Capitol, commemorating 50 years of service as…
Read MoreScientists Apply Biomedical Technique to Reveal Changes Within the Body of the Ocean
For decades, medical researchers have sought new methods to diagnose how different types of cells and systems in the body are functioning. Now scientists have adapted an emerging biomedical technique…
Read MoreWHOI Scientists Receive $1 Million Grant from MacArthur Foundation
Rapid climate change and an increasing range of climate impacts are already being felt along our coasts, and new research suggests that U.S. Northeast coastal waters may be more vulnerable…
Read MoreWHOI Announces 2014 Ocean Science Journalism Fellows
Eight writers, filmmakers, and multimedia science journalists from the U.S., England, and The Gambia have been selected to participate in the competitive Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) Ocean Science Journalism…
Read MoreThree WHOI Scientists Named 2014 American Geophysical Union Fellows
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists Rockwell Geyer, Susumu Honjo, and Delia Oppo have been elected 2014 fellows of the American Geophysical Union (AGU).
Read MoreREMUS SharkCam Captures Upclose Encounters with Great Whites
When a team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) took a specially equipped REMUS SharkCam underwater vehicle to Guadalupe Island in Mexico to film great white sharks in the wild, they captured more than they bargained for.
Read MoreMercury in the Global Ocean
Although the days of odd behavior among hat makers are a thing of the past, the dangers mercury poses to humans and the environment persist today. Mercury is a naturally…
Read MoreDEEPSEA CHALLENGER Travels to NYC for Cameron Film Premiere
The co-star of the James Cameron’s latest film is not your typical Hollywood starlet. She’s 24-feet long, bright green and weighs approximately 11.8 tons. The one-of-a-kind, deep-diving submersible DEEPSEA CHALLENGER…
Read MoreNewly Discovered Juvenile Whale Shark Aggregation in Red Sea
Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus)—which grow more than 30 feet long—are the largest fish in the world’s ocean, but little is known about their movements on a daily basis or over years. A newly discovered juvenile whale shark aggregation off Saudi Arabia is giving researchers a rare glimpse into the lives of these gentle giants.
Read MoreDispersant from Deepwater Horizon Spill Found to Persist in the Environment
A new study by scientists at Haverford College and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has found that the dispersant compound DOSS, which decreases the size of oil droplets and hampers the formation of large oil slicks, remains associated with oil and can persist in the environment for up to four years.
Read More“Science Made Public” Lecture Series Celebrates Alvin’s 50th Year
This summer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution’s “Science Made Public” series celebrates the deep-diving submersible Alvin’s 50 years in operation. A venerable giant in deep ocean research, Alvin has logged many accomplishments…
Read MoreJames Bellingham Appointed Director of WHOI Center for Marine Robotics
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has appointed James Bellingham as the first director of its Center for Marine Robotics. Bellingham will come to WHOI in early fall 2014 from the…
Read MoreTags Reveal Chilean Devil Rays Are Among Ocean’s Deepest Divers
Mainly thought to be surface dwellers, Chilean devil rays (Mobula tarapacana) are most often seen gliding through shallow, warm waters. But a new study by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and international colleagues reveals that these large and majestic creatures are actually among the deepest-diving ocean animals.
Read MoreStudy Finds Emperor Penguin in Peril
An international team of scientists studying Emperor penguin populations across Antarctica finds the iconic animals in danger of dramatic declines by the end of the century due to climate change.…
Read MoreUnderstanding the Ocean’s Role in Greenland Glacier Melt
The Greenland Ice Sheet is a 1.7 million-square-kilometer, 2-mile thick layer of ice that covers Greenland. Its fate is inextricably linked to our global climate system. In the last 40…
Read MoreClimate Change Winners and Losers
The Antarctic Peninsula, the northern most region of Antarctica, is experiencing some of the most dramatic changes due to climate warming, including population declines of some penguin species. This is…
Read MoreIconic Research Submersible Alvin Turns 50
We know more about the surface of other planets than we do about Earth’s ocean. And what is known about our ocean would not have been possible without the deep-sea…
Read MoreHow Do Phytoplankton Survive Scarcity of a Critical Nutrient?
Phytoplankton—tiny, photosynthetic organisms—are essential to life on Earth, supplying us with roughly half the oxygen we breathe. Like all other life forms, phytoplankton require the element phosphorus to carry out…
Read MoreWHOI Scientist Collaborates with Falmouth High School Art Students
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) biologist Dr. Rebecca Gast and Falmouth (Mass.) High School art teacher Jane Baker have teamed up to bring the excitement of polar research to Falmouth…
Read MoreCaswell Selected for Mindel C. Sheps Award
The Population Association of America (PAA) selected biologist Hal Caswell of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) to receive the 2014 Mindel C. Sheps Award for his contributions to mathematical demography. The PAA is the major professional society devoted to the study of human populations. The prestigious honor is awarded to one scientist biennially on the basis of important contributions to knowledge either in the form of a single piece of work or a continuing record of high achievement.
Read MoreScientists Test Hearing in Bristol Bay Beluga Whale Population
The ocean is an increasingly industrialized space. Shipping, fishing, and recreational vessels, oil and gas exploration and other human activities all increase noise levels in the ocean and make it…
Read MoreRobotic Deep-sea Vehicle Lost on Dive to 6-Mile Depth
On Saturday, May 10, 2014, at 2 p.m. local time (10 pm Friday EDT), the hybrid remotely operated vehicle Nereus was confirmed lost at 9,990 meters (6.2 miles) depth in the Kermadec Trench northeast of New Zealand. The unmanned vehicle was working as part of a mission to explore the ocean’s hadal region from 6,000 to nearly 11,000 meters when a portion of it likely imploded.
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